HYDERABAD, Sept 16: A formal permission for holding public meeting at the GCT ground has been granted to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) by the district Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafique Zaman, on Monday.

The deputy convener, Coordination Committee of the MQM, Aftab Ahmed Sheikh, told this correspondent over the phone.

Mr Sheikh said that the district Nazim wrote on the NOC, issued by the additional DPO, Sharjil Karim Kharal, that permission has been granted to the MQM for holding the Sept 17 public meeting.

He said that in the evening a team of army officials arrived in the GCT ground to ask the MQM to stop preparing for the Sept 17 public meeting till a final confirmation was given to the party.

The MQM leader said that he told the team that the work would not be stopped because if the officials gave a go-ahead signal to the party at a later stage the work would suffer.

He said that he was attending a workshop at the Sindhi Language Authority when he got the message about the arrival of the army team, so he left for the ground immediately.

He informed the officials that the GCT ground was one of 15 areas which had been established by the district government for holding public meetings by political parties.